Nicola

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Some may recognise her, as Nicola is a professional model, which makes it a lot easier to at least get the pose right...



So what about the image itself

[Jocelyn Walker]

Re: Nicola

I find the portrait very appealing in its tones & subtlety! The soft doe-like eyes draw my attention to begin with! An appreciation of the generous mouth, beautiful teeth & skin follows! I like the lighting...soft! Background plain & doesn't present any distractions! The dark hair framing the main point of focus well! However, I personally would've cropped a little more off the bottom, just before the decolletage! Personal taste differs!

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Nicola

... I personally would've cropped a little more off the bottom, just before the decolletage! ...

Don't you just love the way the French have beautiful soft sounding words that echo the subject so well.

I actually did several crops, but wanted the hair to finish naturally. The dress she had on was very tastefully cut, but I didn't want that to be a distraction so cropped at a level that just gave enough room for the hair to flow into. It's a tough call whenever, you do this type of shot, but I tried to keep the concentration to the face.

I really do appreciate your comments, your descriptions are far from simple remarks.

Thanks

[Gina]

Re: Nicola

Hello Graham,

Beautiful image but as portraits and people are my favourite subject I suppose I'm biased. The tones of black and white are very soft and compliment her beautiful face. I'd like to see the colour version too. Very well done, the crop is spot on.

Gina

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Nicola

As the comments here and on other sites have been so nice, to both me and Nicola, I have gone back and re-worked this image (a lot) which is something I don't normally do.

I have taken on that the crop should be "just before the decolletage", but maintained just enough room for the hair to "move in". There was a fold line in the background that's gone, the ear stud has had the hi-lights reduced to avoid the distraction, the second catchlight in the eyes has gone and I tried a little bit of lightening under the eyes.

One thing I have noticed with models is that some makeup that works well in natural light can cause some strange effects in the studio and different makeup reacts differently to light. The makeup under her eyes absorbed the light far more than whatever was on her face. There wasn't much but there is a far more matte effect under the eyes. This is why I think this works better as a monochrome. The conversion to B&W was by using a Red/Orange filter effect, much the same as we used to do with B&W film.




Any further thoughts / comments are always appreciated.

Thanks

[Gina]

Re: Nicola

Hello again Graham,

I feel the colour version is a bit too saturated and looks a bit unnatural. Also, the whites of the eyes are giving her a jaundiced appearance. The edits on the shadows under her eyes are better and the sparkle of her studs less obvious. If I was editing, I would brighten the whites (teeth and eyes) and tone the saturation down. It's an image worth experimenting with. Was this in a studio with lighting?

I've taken the liberty of showing you my take ... will delete on request.






Gina

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Nicola

This was taken in the Calumet store in London, where they had set up the lights. It was far from ideal, they were too high and I couldn't very well go changing it. The floor was dark and provided no reflected light to lift the shadows.

Nicola is Greek and the colours (on my screen) fairly accurate.

I once had a go at whitening eyes and teeth (not my own) , but I felt it all looked a bit freeky, like so many "Hollywood Stars". I appreciate it's all down to individual taste, I'm in the "Less is More" camp...

[Gina]

Re: Nicola

I'll understand if my edit's are a bit freaky then LOL, we can't all be in the same 'camp'

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Nicola

Gina,

Thank you so much for taking the time to make the edits.

You have shown the effect you describe very well (Picture vs 1000 words) and I'm of a mind to revisit the eyes.

One thing that I have noticed, which came to my attention when scrolling from one image to the other, is that the colouration of the skin varies significantly depending on where the images are on my screen. The effect is due to my viewing this on a laptop, at fairly close range and the difference this viewing angle makes on the colours of the face is quite remarkable.

Thanks again for all the comments & tips, they really are appreciated.

Regards

[mib2]

Re: Nicola

Hi Graham

I love the picture and certainly like the style presented.
Dave R

https://www.daveritchie.com

[Josh Bear]

Re: Nicola

Hi

you were right IMHO to go with monochrome. It allows us the see the smoothness of the skin without distraction of the colours which are a little dominating.

The composition and pose is excellent but I would have included a little more of the dress. Don't know why just a hunch and hard to prove without seeing it .

Best Regards

Josh